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1842 – closed 1920
Founded: Construction began in 1842 and the mill was completed and put into operation in 1843 by Allen Hamilton and Jesse L. Williams. It stood on Lot 25 of the original plat of the city, on the west side of Clinton Street between Superior Street and the Nickel Plate Railroad — the former right-of-way of the Wabash and Erie Canal, from which it drew its power — a block and a half north of the courthouse, in the business section.
Founders: Allen Hamilton and Jesse L. Williams.
What it did: A flour and grist mill, and by Bates's account one of the best patronised mills in the county: farmers coming to the city could do their buying while their grain was ground, and a late arrival might sleep the night in the mill office. In 1860 it processed 88,000 bushels of grain valued at $103,000, employed eight men, and represented about $25,000 invested. The L-shaped frame building's massive beams were hand-hewn walnut; under water power, four French buhrs were driven by an immense overshot wheel, probably eighteen to twenty feet in diameter.
Course: Hamilton retired and Pliny Hoagland entered as Williams's partner (Hoagland and Williams); the firm name changed in turn to Hoagland, Comstock & Co. and Pliny Hoagland & Co. Christian Tresselt, a canal boat captain, became a silent partner in 1860; the firm became Hoagland, Tresselt & Co. in 1870; Williams withdrew in 1872; and Tresselt and his sons Oscar, Herman and Fred became sole owners. The mill ran on water for forty years until the canal's abandonment in 1883 suddenly cut its power; steam equipment was installed at once and the roller process added shortly after.
Fate: The Tresselt family continued the business until the mill closed in 1920. All the equipment except the steam engine was then sold sight unseen, through a millers' trade journal, to a Mexican businessman, shipped away and set up in a small town south of Mexico City; the building was dismantled shortly after the sale. The four stone buhrs were believed by the family to be buried on the site.
Sources:
- Roy M. Bates, The Water-Powered Mills of Allen County, Indiana (1942), No. XXXIII — site, output, ownership chain, closure and the Mexico sale.